Filthy Review - 'Truth or Die'

Truth or Die (2012)

Review by Jude Felton

The original title for this film was Truth or Dare. It’s simple, to the point and you get a pretty good idea of what the film is about. Changing it to Truth or Die, for its US release, keeps it simple and straight to the point, but is horribly cheesy and I don’t like it. Now, I am sure there are reasons behind this, such as other films with the same name, but if The Road could co-exist nicely alongside The Road, I am sure there was enough room for more than one Truth or Dare’s. I guess that is all irrelevant though, and it’s what’s inside that counts?

I’ll start off by saying that I am not a huge fan of films that feature stuck-up English rich kids, and this film is full of them. Over-privileged, self-entitled and obnoxious, with no grounding in reality what-so-ever, Truth or Die starts out with an end of school year party. During the course of the party, Eleanor decides that it would be a grand idea to play a game of truth or dare. During the course of the game some of the rich kids end up picking on the even richer kid, Felix, and it all ends in tears.

Fast forward a year and Eleanor, along with Chris, Jemma and Paul, are all making their way to another party. This time it is Felix’s birthday and for some reason they have been invited, and even stranger still they are all going. Can you see where this is going yet? All I will say about the plot from here on in is that the next game of truth or dare ends up being a little more violent, in this tale of vengeance.

Truth or Die really isn’t that enjoyable of a movie. Aside from the thoroughly obnoxious cast, which includes Jennie (Cherry Tree Lane, Shank, Demons Never Die and the terrific The Other Side) Jacques as the downright nasty Eleanor, which ensure that you feel absolutely no sympathy for anyone, you also have a plot that comes across as a mix of one of the Saw sequels and the 2010 flick The Final.

Generally speaking, in this style of movie, you need someone to root for; you want that final girl (or boy), someone you can get behind. Here, I just wanted everyone to die. Painfully. The friends constantly turn on each other, and would seemingly do anything to get out alive. I just didn’t feel the film or the protagonists. There were a few nice gruesome moments thrown in, and the film itself looks very nice; with a lot of the locations used being from my old neck of the worlds.

Regardless of the scenery and more violent moments I just couldn’t find myself getting drawn into the story, I just didn’t care about anyone. Everyone came across as either a bully or a hopeless case, even the character of Gemma, who is supposed to be the sympathetic one, came across as self-serving and shallow. Needless to say, Truth or Die did not do much for me.

The film is the latest in the Bloody Disgusting Selects series of releases, and it is in my opinion the weakest so far. Up until now there has been a good, solid variety in the films that have fallen under this banner, and I have enjoyed pretty much all of them. Truth or Die has broken that chain, and I hope that it is just a minor glitch, and not a forbearer of future releases.

Truth or Die is released by Vivendi and is available now on DVD.